Andre

Pallante

While he didn’t look sharp out there, Pallante did what he needed to in order to put his team in position to win this one. He didn’t miss many bats, but he forced lots of weakly hit fly balls on his way to another solid outing. Again he wasn’t sharp at all and was especially chaotic with his sinker against righties and didn’t force ground balls at a high rate like we’re used to seeing from him. Still, he left this start with a 3.96 ERA and is scheduled for a date with the Mets next Wednesday.

Pallante had some of his best velocity of the season tonight and allowed only five hard-hit balls, but luck was not on his side. It’s the first time in 11 starts that he’s failed to complete five innings, but since the St. Louis offense picked him up, he remains 5-4 with a 4.19 ERA. He’ll next face the Rangers on Wednesday.

Pallante took the ball for the opening contest of Saturday’s doubleheader and managed to limit Cincinnati to just a second-inning solo homer by Nathaniel Lowe, retiring the final 13 batters he faced. The 27-year-old righty struck out three and allowed just one run. He’s allowed three earned runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts this season. He’ll face the division-rival Cubs his next time out on Friday.

With his velocity up some, Pallante struck out seven today. He has 28 strikeouts over his last five starts, which, at least in that department, rates as the best stretch of his career. Prior to this, he totaled 12 strikeouts over his first four starts this season. The loss leaves him 4-4 with a 4.04 ERA. He’ll pitch in Cincinnati next weekend.

Pallante gave the Cardinals five solid innings in Sacramento, with all three runs against him coming in the second inning on four straight hits, including a two-run double by Shea Langeliers. Pallante would face the minimum over his final three innings. He struck out four. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 4.46 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and a 33/19 K/BB ratio across 42 1/3 innings into a start against the Royals in St. Louis on Sunday.

Pallante retired the first two batters in the first inning, only to give up four runs afterwards on a HBP, two singles and a three-run homer. After that, he did just fine. The loss leaves him 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA. He’ll have a tough assignment next time out in Sacramento against the A’s. The league has an .826 OPS in Sutter Health Park this year, easily the highest in baseball (.784 for Camden Yards in second).

There was zero chance of this one ever getting going based on the forecast at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night. It’ll be made up as a doubleheader on July 7. Tuesday’s original starters — Brandon Sproat and Andre Pallante — will presumably be pushed back to take the ball on Wednesday instead.

This was the good version of Pallante. His slider forced seven swings-and-misses as he dotted in beautifully low and below the zone and played it well off his sinker for the righties and fastball for the lefties. He also got the Pirates to hit into lots of harmless contact, whether it was lazy pop-ups or ground balls. He’ll take a 3.73 ERA into his next start against the Brewers.

The right-hander uncharacteristically piled up eight strikeouts in the contest while walking three opposing batters. The Mariners scratched out single runs against him in the second and fourth innings, then Josh Naylor clubbed a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Pallante generated 12 swings and misses on 90 pitches on the night, registering an elite CSW of 38 percent. He’ll see if that swing-and-miss stuff can carry over to Wednesday’s matchup against Paul Skenes and the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

He struck out five and walked three. Pallante has a 2-1 record and a respectable 4.05 ERA, but his 12/11 K/BB in 20 innings is hideous and he’s not such a strong groundball pitcher than he can survive that kind of thing for long. He’ll face the Mariners next week.